New Phytologist 2012-12-01

Suppression of Ku70/80 or Lig4 leads to decreased stable transformation and enhanced homologous recombination in rice.

Ayako Nishizawa-Yokoi, Satoko Nonaka, Hiroaki Saika, Yong-Ik Kwon, Keishi Osakabe, Seiichi Toki

Index: New Phytol. 196(4) , 1048-59, (2012)

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Abstract

Evidence for the involvement of the nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway in Agrobacterium-mediated transferred DNA (T-DNA) integration into the genome of the model plant Arabidopsis remains inconclusive. Having established a rapid and highly efficient Agrobacterium-mediated transformation system in rice (Oryza sativa) using scutellum-derived calli, we examined here the involvement of the NHEJ pathway in Agrobacterium-mediated stable transformation in rice. Rice calli from OsKu70, OsKu80 and OsLig4 knockdown (KD) plants were infected with Agrobacterium harboring a sensitive emerald luciferase (LUC) reporter construct to evaluate stable expression and a green fluorescent protein (GFP) construct to monitor transient expression of T-DNA. Transient expression was not suppressed, but stable expression was reduced significantly, in KD plants. Furthermore, KD-Ku70 and KD-Lig4 calli exhibited an increase in the frequency of homologous recombination (HR) compared with control calli. In addition, suppression of OsKu70, OsKu80 and OsLig4 induced the expression of HR-related genes on treatment with DNA-damaging agents. Our findings suggest strongly that NHEJ is involved in Agrobacterium-mediated stable transformation in rice, and that there is a competitive and complementary relationship between the NHEJ and HR pathways for DNA double-strand break repair in rice.© 2012 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2012 New Phytologist Trust.